Selma Skillshare a huge success
From our weekly issue dated April 21, 2010
Alternatives from alpacas to Z-Packs provided entertainment for everyone at the third annual Selma Skillshare on Saturday, April 17 at Selma Community Center.
This free, community-building event showcased some of the sustainability projects of Spiral Living Center in Takilma.
Teachers from throughout Illinois Valley taught workshops ranging from massage techniques to making sourdough bread and fermented foods.
Children were happily hammering, making wooden planter boxes and planting strawberries under the watchful eyes of Jennie and John Reed.
Kelpie Wilson was producing BioChar, building soil with stoves made from tin cans, a recent project of Dome School students.
Cedar Knoll and Jon Kale restored a cobweb-covered bicycle that had been in a shed for 10 years, using a “fourth-hand“ tool to replace rusted brake and gear cables. I.V. Bikespace at Spiral Living Center helps cyclists with their needs without leaving Illinois Valley.
Steve Orr and Eric Hanson sharpened axes and repaired tools brought by workshop attendees. Donations are appreciated for the Takilma Tool and Sustainable Book Library, which has 1,400 volumes.
Carol Ronan brought a mild-mannered goat and its Great Pyrenees guard dog for a class on raising goats for fiber and meat. Quality Angora fiber can sell for up to $26 per pound.
Christine Perala-Gardiner discussed “Alpaca Husbandry“, and extolled the virtues of “Paca-poo: the Champagne of Compost.“ She brought three alpacas from Suri Futures in Cave Junction, a brown huacaya with thick brown fleece-like merino wool, and two white suris with fleece-like silk.
Inside Selma Community Center, edible and medicinal plants were displayed in the hallway. Orville Camp explained “Ecostry: Seeing through Nature“s Eyes.“
Students sipped Deb“s decongesting allergy-relief tea, made from ingredients such as bayberry root bark, licorice and elderberry. They sipped as they learned about natural healing for seasonal allergies with Dr. Margaret Philhower, who has a doctorate in naturopathy; and Debbie Lukas, herbalist from Siskiyou Mountain Herbs.
Lukas suggests soothing eye compresses made from black tea bags or cucumber slices, and inhaling eucalyptus essential oil to open the respiratory passages and prevent infection.
“Dr. Margaret“ recommends Bromelain enzymes, vitamin C and probiotics, as well as seven homeopathic remedies such as Sabadilla or Natrum muriaticum, from sea salt.
Spiral Living Center has been promoting sustainability and self-sufficiency in Illinois Valley since 2006. The I.V. Food Coalition helps Illinois Valley have food security, and will sponsor a Farm Festival on Sept. 11 at Jubilee Park in Cave Junction.
I.V. Gleaners distribute excess crops between landowners, the Food Bank, those who pick the food, and one-quarter for wildlife and seed.
The Spiral Living Center office now is open Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; phone 541-592-3642.
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